Lend a hand at this spring's Bob McMillan Memorial Trout Bout, February 4th at Oak Grove Park
 | 1st place, Eight and under.
Photo by Herman Spalinger |
How you can help as a volunteerMembers, especially you newbies, do you want to spend a morning providing a little public service while getting to know your fellow DFFers? You'll have the opportunity on Saturday, February 4th at San Joaquin County Parks and Recreation's Spring Trout Bout. Our club has been an integral part of this event and the other two county sponsored fishing derbies for many years. The county provides the fish and prizes, we provide the bodies to get the job done. We need volunteers to help take the food orders behind the counter, sell coffee, cook the hot dogs and wrap them in tinfoil with the buns to sell. The more we have behind the counter the better as around 8:00 a.m. folks start filing in for coffee, hot chocolate to warm them up. They line up for the donuts too. We have two crock pots, one for cheese and one for the chili set up by the hot dog cooker. We also need volunteers to help with the actual running of the derby, filling out registration forms, helping with the weighing and measuring and the distribution of prizes. To gain free admittance when entering the park, tell the person in the toll booth that you are a member of the Delta Fly Fishers and are there to help.  | | "The Weigh In" Jim Rich and Ed Sill with unidentified participants. Photo by Herman Spalinger |
The Event from start to finish and places your hands can make a differenceThe February Trout Bout is headed by club member Steve Cooper. Your first chance to help starts early with Charlie Reames getting the necessary equipment out of the Delta Fly Fishers shed at the park's corporation yard at the northeast end. Charlie is usually at the shed at Oak Grove Park at 5:15 to 5:30 a.m. to load the coffee pots, coffee, etc that's already in the shed plus any sodas left over stashed in the ice chests. While this is occurring, other volunteers are picking up the donuts and have already purchased the needed hot dogs & buns, chili, cheese - if not enough in the shed - coffee, hot chocolate, etc.  | | "I caught this all by myself'" Photo by Herman Spalinger |
Sandi of the Parks & Rec is at the boathouse by 5:30 or earlier with the prizes the county awards to the 5 or 6 different age groups they break down for first, second and third prizes for the biggest fish, and she lets us in the boathouse to set up for food/drink sales. The gate to the county's truck and storage areas for the park (this area is not open to the public) is open for us only @ 5:30 a.m. or before. The public comes in the main gate as they have to pay at the kiosk on their way in the park to participate, and that main gate is opened for them at 6:00 a.m. The gate to the storage area and county truck storage area closes @ 6:00 because the public is not allowed in that area. The  | The 2009 Grand Prize Winner.
Photo by Herman Spalinger |
public starts lining up to get in the main gate and at that time any one of us DFF'ers have to get in line to get in the main gate if we're too late to get in by the storage area. Several of DFF volunteers arrive around 7:30 or later after the crowd at the main gate thins out.We have a couple of tackle boxes for cash/change, one to use at the boathouse and one for whoever volunteers to drive around in the electric cart the county provides so we can sell coffee, chocolate, hot dogs, etc, around the pond. Charlie usually brings the seed money for the two tackle boxes for change to start out the morning. The public is told fishing starts @ 6:00 a.m. and the contest for the prizes closes at 12:30 at which time club members help Sandi go over the sheets the public fills out that other club members help with to mark down as the fish are brought in to be weighed. After Sandi gets the top three weights for each class figured out after 12:30, someone announces through a loud speaker the winners and other club members help hand out the prizes. Most everything is then cleaned up, put back in the shed for the next derby and we are usually out of there by 1:00 p.m. or at least 1:30. |
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